Intensive dairy farming in Denmark and the role of grazing Troels Kristensen Senior Scientist Aarhus University Faculty of Agricultural Sciences Department of Agroecology and Environment troels.kristensen@agrsci.dk Paper presented at EAAP 2010, session 3 Opportunities and challenges for grasslandbased systems
Agenda Farm structure and development Challenge for grazing -Farm size and production system -Farmers attitude and expectation -Pasture management Conclusion 2
Danish dairy farming Development in farm structure from year 2000 to 2008 2000 2008 Farms, no 9800 4500 Cows per farm n 66 126 Area per farm Ha 74 127 Yield, per cow Kg ECM 7600 8900 per ha 6800 8800 Production system loose housing 35 72 % of herd AMS milking <1 16 organic 8 10 Landuse, maize for silage 8 32 % of area in rotation grassland 34 36 cereals 48 27
Herd structure in danish dairy farming - 2008 60 50 40 30 % of cows % of herds 20 10 0 0-99 100-199 200-299 300-399 400-499 500- Herd size, no of cows
Grazing at intensive dairy farms in Denmark Results from questioner send to 800 farmers with more than 100 dairy cows
The use of grazing on farms with more than 100 dairy cows in Denmark 2008 Production system All Conventional Organic Number 396 347 49 % of farms within system Grazing cows 34 25 100 Grazing hif heifers 66 62 100 (372 farms)
Effekt of summer feeding system on herd production, kg milk % of herds 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 conv. indoor conv. grazing organic 10 5 0 < 7000 7000 8000 8000 9000 9000 10000 10000 11000 > 11000 Milk yield, kg ECM
Logistic problems in relation to the use of grazing Access to sufficient grazingarea(defined as at least 0,3 ha /cow) : 97% of organic herds 64% of the conventional herds grazing on 33% of the herds
Cows at pasture, 66 Conventional herds with more % of herds 43 than 0.3 ha / cow 33 34 27 Critical limits for grazing in relation to: 0 0 0 100 200 300 400 500 Herd size, no of cows -Herds size -Distance to pasture -Passage of roads Cows at pasture, % of herds 66 45 66 33 37 35 33 35 33 24 17 0 <250 250 500 500 1500 >1500 0 0 1 2 >2 0 Longest distance from stable to pasture, m Passage of roads between stable and pasture, n
Effect of summerfeeding system on design of the housing facilities Proportion of herds in each group (grazing or nongrazing) Grazing No Yes Renovation of buildings after year 2000 38 29 Automatic milking 32 22 Housing of flactating ti cows in more than one 25 13 group More than 1 TMR ration daily to the cows 17 14 Concentrate in milking gpalour 52 48 Individual concentrate feeding in the stable 15 15 Renovated housing facilities and AMS reduce the use of grazing
Use of information in feeding, health and reproduction management classified after summerfeeding system Measured at a scale from 1 (not at all) to 4 (major) Grazing No Yes 1:Feeding management at cow level Daily from milking palour 2.2 1.8 Milk recording 3.2 3.1 2:Health management Data from milking palour 2.4 1.9 Observation during milking 3.5 3.6 CMT test 2.7 2.4 3:Reproduction management Data from milking equipment 1.6 1.4 Data from cow activity sensor 2.2 2.1 Observation during milking 31 3.1 33 3.3 Observation during feeding 3.6 3.6 Nongrazing farm rely more on data than grazing farms
Farmers degree of agreement with the influence of selected areas on the choise of summer feeding system Proportion of herds in each group (grazing or nongrazing) Grazing High Some None??? Problems with walking lanes No 73 22 5 0 Yes 37 49 14 1 Access to grazing area No 60 29 10 1 Yes 42 34 23 2 Housing facilities No 19 34 45 2 Yes 8 33 57 2 Reduced forage productivity No 53 41 4 1 Yes 16 66 22 2
Farmers degree of agreement towards problems of management in relation to grazing Proportion of herds in each group (grazing or nongrazing) Gra- High Some None??? zing Supplement feeding No 75 22 2 1 Yes 28 47 24 1 Pasture management No 57 39 3 1 Yes 20 51 27 2 Work load No 50 35 12 3 Yes 7 31 59 3 Planing of daily work No 23 32 34 11 Yes 4 20 67 9 Reproduction No 24 25 46 5 Yes 4 24 70 2 Milk yield No 65 29 4 2 Yes 20 51 27 2
Farmers degree of agreement with the general role of grazing in year 2020 Proportion of herds in each group (grazing or nongrazing) Grazing High Some None??? New technology will stimulate No 2 23 59 15 grazing Yes 10 37 34 19 Increacing demand after milk No 9 43 35 13 from pasture based systems Yes 30 50 8 13 Environment problems will No 31 40 10 18 restrict grazing Yes 20 37 28 15 Animal welfare issues will No 16 41 27 17 increase grazing Yes 41 40 8 11
Farmers use of information sources in daily grazing management Proportion of herds grazing 2008 High Some Little Never Milk delivery 52 29 13 7 Milk urea content 21 41 23 15 Systematic measurement of grass 0 15 37 46 hight Observation of grass height 52 37 6 5 Observation of cow behavior 44 43 7 5 WWW grassproduction forecaste 1 7 20 73 Wheather forecast 10 22 25 43 Consultants 1 31 33 36 Experience from earlier years 62 33 4 2
Conclusions intensive dairy farming and the use of grazing Development Larger herds Higher milk yield New technology Challanges in relation to grazing Area Distance to pasture Passage of road Planning of daily workroutines Management information at cow level Supplement feeding Balance pasture and cow production Seasonal based growth and quality Indoor cow welfare Rentability of investment 16
Grazing at intensive dairy farms in Denmark Thank you for your attention 17